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Genotyping Strains of Lyme Disease Agents Directly From Ticks, Blood, or Tissue

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Borrelia burgdorferi

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1690))

Abstract

The tick-borne spirochetes that cause Lyme disease in North America and Eurasia display strong linkage disequilibrium between certain chromosomal and plasmid loci within each three major geographic areas of their distribution. For strain typing for epidemiologic and ecologic purposes, the commonly used genotypes based on a single locus are the spacer between the 16S–23S ribosomal RNA and the ospC gene of a plasmid. A simple genotyping scheme based on the two loci allows for discrimination between strains representing all the areas of distribution. The methods presented here are meant for genotyping directly from ticks and from blood and tissue samples from vertebrates.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The name “Borreliella” has been proposed [1] and formally accepted [2] for a new genus comprising all species of Lyme disease agents as well as closely-related species that are not associated with human disease. The genus name Borreliella replaces the term “Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato ” that has been used to distinguish this coherent clade from an equally coherent clade of relapsing fever species, which retain the genus name Borrelia on the basis of priority. The family name for the genera Borrelia and Borreliella is Borreliaceae.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA

    Alan G. Barbour & Vanessa J. Cook

  2. Department of Medicine, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA

    Alan G. Barbour

  3. Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA

    Alan G. Barbour

Authors
  1. Alan G. Barbour
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  2. Vanessa J. Cook
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Correspondence to Alan G. Barbour .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA

    Utpal Pal

  2. Department of Microbiology, Ondokuz Mayis University, Samsun, Turkey

    Ozlem Buyuktanir

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Barbour, A.G., Cook, V.J. (2018). Genotyping Strains of Lyme Disease Agents Directly From Ticks, Blood, or Tissue. In: Pal, U., Buyuktanir, O. (eds) Borrelia burgdorferi. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1690. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7383-5_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7383-5_1

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-7382-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-7383-5

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